PETALING JAYA: The script is finally looking familiar, with Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) top two men’s doubles pairs Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun set to face each other in the French Open quarter-finals.
On Thursday (Oct 22), world No. 4 Aaron-Wooi Yik and world No. 11 Wei Chong-Kai Wun won their respective second round matches in contrasting fashion to set up an all-Malaysian quarter-final and guarantee the country a place in the semi-finals at the Arena Grand Paris.
Aaron-Wooi Yik hardly broke a sweat as their Thai opponents, Peeratchai Sukphun-Pakkapon Teeraratsakul, conceded a walkover.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun, however, had to work hard for their impressive 25-23, 21-14 victory over former world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan.
Both pairs have reunited with their regular partners after being paired with different shuttlers over the past few months.
They returned to action as a pair at the Denmark Open last week. While Aaron-Wooi Yik reached the final, Wei Chong-Kai Wun crashed out in the opening round.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun will have a chance on Friday (Oct 23) to level the score against their seniors.
They have beaten Aaron-Wooi Yik only three times in eight meetings, with their most recent defeat coming at the All England in Birmingham in March this year.
Another all-Malaysian men’s doubles quarter-final failed to materialise as Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani kept their end of the bargain by winning their match, but Aaron Tai-Yap Roy King failed to pull off the day’s biggest upset in the second round.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin defeated Denmark’s Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard 21-6, 14-21, 21-18 to set up a quarter-final clash with world No. 1 pair Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae of South Korea, who beat Tai-Roy King 21-14, 21-16.
Said Sze Fei: “To have three pairs in the quarter-finals is good for our country. It’s a good sign and we are on the right track.”
